Christmas Scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Life with Hunter

Each day is a new adventure with our sweet boy. I wake up never knowing what to expect out of our silly goose. Here are a few examples of his silliness:

Saturday morning Jimmy's family was in town for H's birthday party. H wakes up, I give him some milk and put him back to bed, per our normal Saturday morning routine. He was mostly asleep when I laid him back in his bed. I crawl my sleepy self back into my warm, comfortable bed looking forward to a little more sleep. About 5 minutes later I hear a "thud" through the monitor. Hunter is known to throw his pacifiers out of the bed when he doesn't want to be in his crib. He wasn't fussing or talking, so the "thud" was unexpected. I know the sound of the pacifier falling, it definitely was not the pacifier. I jump out of bed, with no regard for Uncle Nate sleeping on the couch, and run (yes, flat out run) across the house to find my sweet, barely one year old sitting on the floor in his room looking around. He started crying once he saw me. Silly goose! I had never seen him even attempt this before. I guess he learned his lesson. It doesn't have to be said, but daddy and Uncle Nate lowered the crib that night. No more kamikaze baby around these parts!

Another example of H's silly life:
Today at lunch with Granna and Aunt Sassy, I had a root beer. Mr. H took the straw in his mouth and started drinking. Thankfully the cup was almost empty because I think he would have finished it off. Somehow, the silly goose learned how to drink out of a straw overnight. We have tried several other times with no luck. Now, out of the blue, he can do it without any hesitancy! He has been drinking out of a straw all day. Oh my, he is getting too big!

I have been a little on the grumpy side today. No reason, just a grumpy day. After bedtime Hunter kept waking up and fussing so Jimmy went to check on him. H and I sat on the couch for a little while cuddling. Hunter decided to be very silly. He started giving tummy raspberries and laughing his big belly laugh. After we laughed and laughed at his silliness, I told him that it was time to go back to bed. He could either lay on the couch with me for a few minutes or go back to bed. Then the goose started trying to fake me out by putting his head part of the way down then pulling it back up and laughing. I was rolling! I truly needed a good laugh tonight. God gives such sweet times when I need it the most. He is just my joy! Hunter's laughter is truly the best medicine for a grumpy momma!

Hunter now has 4 teeth. The second one on top finally cut. It didn't seem to bother him nearly as badly as the other top tooth did. The bottom 2 just popped right in without any problems.

I just thought I would share a few of Hunter's newest achievements with the members of his fan club. (Can you call crib jumping an achievement?) I say it again and again, we are truly and absolutely blessed beyond measure.

Santa Baby

We went to see Santa at the mall (and start our Christmas shopping! Yikes!). Hunter laughed at Santa from a distance, but the second Jimmy tried to hand Hunter to Santa, it was a no go. Hunter clung to Daddy with all his might. After some unsuccessful crying pictures (even the pacifier didn't help!), Momma stepped in and saved the day. Of course, I hadn't planned on being in the picture or I might have looked a little nicer. Maybe next year will be a little better. I hope Hunter's crying doesn't keep Santa away! Ha! Merry Christmas to all of the members of Hunter's fan club!

One Year Stats

Hunter went to the doctor on Monday. All looks good. . . healthy and strong!

Weight: 18 lbs. 12 oz. (Yes, a little guy, only in the 5%)
Height: 28 1/2 inches (about 25%)

We are a little bummed that Mr. H isn't quite big enough to turn around in his car seat. He eats like a champ. Today for lunch he had green beans, pinto beans, chicken, pears, and a slice of wheat bread. Then he ate part of my lunch. A few bites of a mini-cheeseburger, some mac and cheese, and most of my fruit cup (with a little whipped cream and marshmallows). FYI-This is not my normal lunch, we had our Christmas party for 6th grade today. Maybe he will hit that 20lb mark soon. We already bought the seat. We can't wait to use it! Hunter sits in the car and makes all kids of funny noises and talks to his mirror and sometimes tries to sing a little with momma. Soon we will be able to watch him do these things!

It's Party Time

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Birthday Hunter James!

What a year this has been! It has flown by with lightning speed. I sat tonight rocking my sweet boy to sleep (and nursing for the last time, sigh) thinking of all of the amazing things that have happened this year. All day I have been playing December 11, 2007 through my head. Every time I looked at my watch I tried to remember what I was doing this time last year. I can't believe my son is a year old! It is absolutely amazing to see God's handiwork as I look back. I can see His fingerprints with every thought and memory. I see His love and goodness every time I look at Hunter. What a mighty God!Hunter James December 11, 2007

December 11, 2008 (the booger wouldn't look at the camera for anything! So busy!)

As the cherry on top of the cake, my sweet Mr. H took 2 steps by himself today! What a cool thing that we can always remember Hunter's first 2 steps happened on his first birthday. Okay, so maybe the steps were more like stumbles and completely accidental, but they were steps by himself nonetheless. I am amazed everyday by this amazing kid that we have been blessed with. I can't wait to see what the future holds for this cool kiddo.

Now for the big birthday party this weekend. Party on little dude!

November

Hello Members of the Hunter Fan Club! Happy Belated Thanksgiving! Here are some pictures to catch you up on the happenings in Mr. H's exciting life. Enjoy!

Hunter spent an evening helping Granna and Aunt Sassy put up the Christmas tree. He is a big helper! Of course, as always, we need to taste everything.

*Adult supervision close by*

Hunter's first Thanksgiving was a BLAST! He is a champ when it comes to eating. He will eat anything he is given. You would think he would be bigger than he is. He is still a little guy. Most people can't believe he is about to turn one. 9 month pants are still too big for my tiny hiney.Poppa taught Hunter to say "gobble gobble" which is "ga-ga-ga". So very cute!

Hunter's first post-turkey nap.

Hunter got new hat and mittens for winter. He is absolutely the most adorable little elf in the entire world! I've never seen anything like Mr. H in his hat.

My favorite!

H has a special drawer at Granna's house for his toys. He decided that the best thing for him to do would be to climb on into the drawer so the toys were at his fingertips. So clever!

As of today, Mr. H is cutting some more teeth. Life is not so fun for a little guy when his mouth hurts. Come on teethies, let's get here already! Poor poor Hunter. He is such a sweet angel baby. I can't believe he will have a birthday next week. Where has the time gone? This has been one of the most amazing years of my life!

11 Months . . . This may get sappy!

Sweet Mr. H (almost 11 months)

My sweet Hunter turned 11 months yesterday. Where has the time gone?! This time last year I was on "home rest", 33 1/2 weeks pregnant. I absolutely loved being pregnant, even with all of the problems we faced and the fears we had. Who knew that I would love being a mommy so much more than I loved being pregnant? I stand in awe of God's handiwork every day when I watch my sweet boy growing, learning, and constantly changing. I love to lay in bed and listen to my little man breathing his deep sleep breaths. I love the sweet hug I get every morning when I get him up to eat and when he lays his sleepy head on my shoulder. I love slobber kisses, over and over again. I love how he lights up when I come in at lunch and after school. I love praying over him every night before I put him to bed. I love every smile and every belly laugh. I love that he has learned to pull up our shirts and plant a big belly raspberry! I love every tickle spot. I love his "I'm being a toot and I know it" face. I love watching him try new foods (most recently whole milk!). I love falling asleep on the couch on Saturday mornings with Hunter on my chest for a short nap. I love watching him throw a ball and make a basket. I love watching Jimmy and Hunter playing together and doing manly things. I love catching an unexpected glimpse of Hunter and realizing how absolutely beautiful he is. I love when he shares his pacifier with me. I love showing Hunter off to my friends and co-workers and students. I love when strangers stop to talk to him and tell me what a sweet baby I have (I whole-heartedly agree!) The list could go on and on! I find new and exciting things every day to fall in love with. God went above and beyond when He blessed Jimmy and me with our Hunter James. I stand in awe of God's huge love for us and for our sweet boy. Thank you Father for our sweet baby boy and for the first 11 months of his life. I can't imagine how great the future will be!

One year ago, seems like yesterday. 34 weeks pregnant.

Happy Veterans Day

Thank you Veterans for protecting the freedom of my family. . . of my precious son.

Thank you soldiers fighting now.

God Bless the USA!

Wreck 'Em Tech

Go Tech! Hunter has learned to clap. He was a great sport!

Tonight was Hunter's first football game. We thought it was appropriate for Hunter's first game to be the Tech vs. Texas game since we are a "house divided". Hunter did really well with all of the noise and excitement. He took it all in. We left the house about 4:30 and had dinner in the Red Raider Club, got settled in our seats and had about an hour to take it all in. Hunter made it about 10 minutes into the game and sacked out. How he could sleep with all of the noise is beyond my comprehension! What a mad house! It was an electric atmosphere. Easily the most exciting game I've ever been too! Aunt Sassy came and picked up the kid and put him to bed. Just too much excitement when you are 10 1/2 months old! Texas played really well. It was a close game. I might have an ulcer now because of the stress and nerves in the fourth quarter. Tech managed to pull it out in the last second (literally!)

Guns Up! Hunter and Momma!

A House Divided
**We have season tickets. Jimmy may look like a Tech fan, but he was secretly cheering for Texas. We must keep the peace in our section. Not everyone is friendly toward the enemy, sadly.

You can probably tell that Kristen wrote this post and Jimmy had no input! For Jimmy's sake, I will put a very tiny "Hook 'Em" way down at the end of the post to keep a little peace in our household. :)

Trick or Treat!

Happy Belated Halloween to all of Hunter's admirers.

We had the most precious baby in the whole world for Halloween. He had not one, but two, yes two Halloween costumes. Can you say spoiled?! Not my baby! During the day, Hunter was a giraffe. He got to go to Toys R Us with Granna and Sassy. They even marched with Geoffrey in the Halloween parade. Big giraffe and little giraffe how cute! Momma met them when she got off work. What a fun time! Then we went and Trick or Treated at Moe and Grandad's house. They were waiting. They knew that Mr. H would be by sometime. He was one pooped little guy by this point. Still precious though! Click here to view Giraffe Hunter.

Halloween night we went up to our church for the fall festival. On to costume #2, the tiger. Most of the games were too big for our little guy but he seemed to have fun anyway. We spent a little bit of time in the preschool booths. Hunter played with the rubber ducks and dug in the plastic balls and played a little basketball. No candy for baby yet. Momma did take a few pieces for herself though (shh, don't tell!) Our favorite part was taking Hunter down to get his face painted. He sat so still in Momma's lap as he had a nose and whiskers painted on his face. Hunter's friend who painted his face said it was the most fun face she had painted all night.

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My! Hunter and Andie and their Daddies.

To wrap up the night we went and Trick or Treated at Granna and Poppa's house. Aunt Jody came over the see Mr. H. He is truly the most precious baby in the entire universe. Have I mentioned lately how blessed we are?!

Our Trip to Waco

Hunter and I decided last week that we and our friends Garrett and Jen needed to go visit our Waco friends, Becky and Coralyn. We packed up and headed out on Friday. We had a great trip down. Hunter (10 months) and Garrett (5 1/2 months) traveled so well! We stopped and dropped off Garrett's big brother, Preston with his Lolly and Hoss and kept on heading to Waco. Somehow, Jen missed a turn off and we ended up in Dublin Dr. Pepper, TX. I always wanted to see that city so it was a nice little detour! The guys were sleeping soundly in their car seats while the mommies navigated our way to Waco.

(Jen frustrated after realizing we missed a turn and no we didn't stop and get a DP.)

We got to Becky's house about 11 with 2 very sleepy baby boys. After the guys got to bed, the mommies stayed up waaaay too late chatting and catching up. It had been too long since we had seen Becky and Coralyn. We were so glad we decided to make the trip.

Saturday, we got up and took our time getting ready. We took the kids to a little pumpkin patch to take some fall time pictures. Of course, Mr. Hunter would not look at the camera so I didn't get any good pictures of his precious face. Jen, our favorite amateur photographer got some great pictures of Coralyn though.

Hunter was very curious. He picked up and "threw" several pumpkins. "Throwing" consists of picking a ball up over his head and throwing it down. Strong man! It was fun watching him explore the hay (of course, he had to taste it too) and pumpkins. I took a ton of pictures, some were not great, some are beautiful of my kid! What fun!

We spent the weekend playing, taking pictures, and just being friends. We are so blessed to have such good friends, near and far. Jen and Becky, thanks for a fun, memorable weekend. We can't wait so long to do it again!

Have I Mentioned . . .

I love these guys. They are my pride and joy.
There is nothing more special than seeing the two of them playing together.
No one can make Mr. H laugh like his daddy.

Sundays have always been nap days in my world. I function better throughout the week with my Sunday afternoon nap. I am so blessed to have a husband who lets me have my Sunday nap uninterrupted. Jimmy goes in when Hunter wakes up from his nap and they play until Momma wakes up. He won't even let me turn on the monitor in the bedroom so I don't hear Hunter when he wakes up. This is such a huge blessing!!

I love to sneak in when the two of them are playing or rocking and just watch my two guys hanging out, spending time together. Jimmy is just crazy mad in love with this kid. We both are! It's a little ridiculous.

Thank you Jimmy for being such an amazing husband and daddy. I love you.

Just a Little Funny!

I got this email at school today from our T-1 Teacher. This is a true story! I thought it was so cute I couldn't help but pass it on!

From a Transitional First Grade class:

Today in Computer, the teacher was reviewing parts of the computer, etc. “Boys and girls, what is the arrow called on your screen?” The kids in unison screamed, “The cursor!” “That’s right and what do you call it when you click and drag the cursor?” All was quiet for one brief moment… then one student responded, “Cursing!”

Here's a little sixth grade funny. First let me give you a little background and prayer request. Jimmy's dad is having bypass surgery on Tuesday. As I am telling my homeroom class and asking for their prayers, one of the kids asked, "What's his last name?". Duh! All of the other kids looked at him like he was crazy! The funny thing is that question was asked twice that day by two different students.

I love the things kids say! I can't wait to hear some of the things that will come out of Hunter's mouth when he starts to talk!

It's Fair Time

One of our favorite things about fall is the fair. We almost always go to the South Plains Fair and the Texas State Fair. We took Hunter to his first fair on Tuesday. What a fun experience! I love being with Hunter watching his expressions and interest in new things. He was very content throughout the evening.

I am slightly embarrassed to admit how much Jimmy and I ate in a short amount of time, but, man, was it delicious! Corn dogs, an apricot fried pie (the reason I go to the fair), Jimmy had roasted corn, we both had the best lemonade in the world (Jimmy's was strawberry lemonade), we split a funnel cake, and candied/carmel apples. I even got another fried pie for breakfast the next day! Yes, we were sick when we left but it was totally worth it. No worries though, our sweet boy had green beans (not fried, of course) while we ate away at the fried food.


There were these robot guys walking around dancing with music blaring. Hunter was quite interested in these strange beings. The face he is making in this picture was a common one throughout the evening as he saw new and exciting things. He wasn't quite sure what to think! He had an awfully comfortable ride though! This is Momma and Hunter standing in front of the Midway. I can just imagine him begging to ride some of the rides in a few years. How fun will that be?! The sun was still up while we were there so Mr. H didn't get to see the night lights of all of the rides.

One of my favorite things was taking Hunter into the petting zoo. Although there just a handful of animals in there, we thought it might be fun for our guy to experience it. He spends his day with 5 dogs so he learned to pet gently at an early age. Hunter got to pet a baby duck and a goat. The emu didn't care to have anything to do with us. As you can tell, Hunter wasn't terribly impressed with the baby duck. Maybe Momma and Daddy were more interested than the kiddo!
As we were getting ready to head out, realizing we had seen all we came to see and eaten all our stomachs could handle, we saw that many of the people walking past us were looking at the stroller and grinning. As we assumed, Mr. H had sacked out. Enough excitement for one night! (Here is proof that we try to be good parents, please note the green beans left on the tray!)I couldn't resist taking a picture of the beautiful West Texas sunset. We have had so many pretty nights lately. These are my wonderful guys and a great sunset. Who could ask for more? What a great night. We are so blessed. I love being with Hunter to experience all of his firsts. I just can't wait for him to be able to experience the wonderful fair food too! Ha! Of course, that will have to wait quite awhile.

Some Fun Random Pictures

Poppa and Hunter at the horse races in Ruidoso. Mr. H didn't really care too much!

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of my boys ever! Amazing!

I set him down for a second while I went to the bathroom. This is how I found him. Such a sleepy head!

Again, he's sleeping. After church at Lujan's with our friends. He fell dead asleep in his high chair. That was a first for our normally super busy kiddo!

No real explanation for this one. Poppa put him in the back of his truck. I just think it's funny!

Hope you enjoyed my random pics as much as I have. I just thought I would share and catch you up on my sweet boy's 8th month of life.

I can't believe he will be 9 months tomorrow! Where has the time gone?!

Thank you for your concern and prayers for our little guy. He is feeling much better.